Drone-based traffic control and V2X enhancements

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatuses for vehicles, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). A method for traffic control can include detecting a traffic condition; determining whether to adjust a virtual traffic sign responsive to detecting the traffic condition; and adjusting the virtual traffic sign based on the traffic condition. Adjusting the virtual traffic sign can include encoding a message for transmission to a base station within a range of the virtual traffic sign, the message including at least one of a virtual traffic sign type and a virtual traffic sign value. Other methods, systems, and apparatuses are described.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Some aspects of the present disclosure relate to drone communication.More specifically, some aspects relate to drone traffic control, andsome further aspects relate to drone-based vehicle steeringcollaboration and remote control.

BACKGROUND

Current traffic control mechanisms are directed to vehicles that travelon roads in a two-dimensional space. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs),however, can travel in three-dimensional space. Therefore, there existsa general need for three-dimensional traffic control. Traffic controlcan also be enhanced by allowing the ability for one vehicle to controlanother.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a radio architecture in accordance withsome 20 aspects.

FIG. 2 illustrates a front-end module circuitry for use in the radioarchitecture of FIG. 1 in accordance with some aspects.

FIG. 3 illustrates a radio IC circuitry for use in the radioarchitecture of FIG. 1 in accordance with some aspects.

FIG. 4 illustrates a baseband processing circuitry for use in the radioarchitecture of FIG. 1 in accordance with some aspects.

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of an example machine for performingmethods according to some aspects.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a user equipment (UE) device accordingto some aspects.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example UE and a base station (BS) such as an eNBor gNB according to some aspects.

FIG. 8 illustrates traffic management in three dimensions according tosome aspects.

FIG. 9 illustrates a hard decision approach to traffic detours.

FIG. 10 illustrates a soft decision approach to traffic detoursaccording to some aspects.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example message transmitted by a virtual trafficsign according to some aspects.

FIG. 12 illustrates a method for traffic control according to someaspects.

FIG. 13 illustrates a method for controlling a UAV according to someaspects.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example of applying a vehicle control state basedon a remote control center request according to some aspects.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example of change of vehicle control stateresponsive to vehicle initiation according to some aspects.

FIG. 16 illustrates an example architecture for vehicle controlaccording to some aspects.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Drones, which can also be referred to as unmanned aerial vehicles, aregaining in popularity and it is expected that the number of UAVs in usewill continue to increase. As the number of UAVs increases, operatorsand municipalities will wish to provide traffic coordination to avoidproblems such as collisions. Current vehicle-to-everything (V2X)specifications are provided for vehicles traveling in two-dimensionalspace on roads on the Earth's surface. For example, signaling accordingto V2X specifications can support reports of road hazards, emergencybraking support, left-turn indicators, etc. Future V2X standardsversions may be expanded to cover UAV use cases, includingthree-dimensional (3D) traffic lanes, route selection, and trafficcoordination.

Example Radio Architecture

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a radio architecture 100 in accordance withsome aspects. Radio architecture 100 may include radio front-end module(FEM) circuitry 104, radio IC circuitry 106 and baseband processingcircuitry 108. Radio architecture 100 as shown includes both WirelessLocal Area Network (WLAN) functionality and Bluetooth (BT) functionalityalthough aspects are not so limited. In this disclosure, “WLAN” and“Wi-Fi” are used interchangeably.

FEM circuitry 104 may include a WLAN or Wi-Fi FEM circuitry 104A and aBluetooth (BT) FEM circuitry 104B. The WLAN FEM circuitry 104A mayinclude a receive signal path comprising circuitry configured to operateon WLAN RF signals received from one or more antennas 101, to amplifythe received signals and to provide the amplified versions of thereceived signals to the WLAN radio IC circuitry 106A for furtherprocessing. The BT FEM circuitry 104B may include a receive signal pathwhich may include circuitry configured to operate on BT RF signalsreceived from one or more antennas 101, to amplify the received signalsand to provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the BTradio IC circuitry 106B for further processing. FEM circuitry 104A mayalso include a transmit signal path which may include circuitryconfigured to amplify WLAN signals provided by the radio IC circuitry106A for wireless transmission over a wireless communication network byone or more of the antennas 101. In addition, FEM circuitry 104B mayalso include a transmit signal path which may include circuitryconfigured to amplify BT signals provided by the radio IC circuitry 106Bfor wireless transmission by the one or more antennas. In the aspect ofFIG. 1, although FEM 104A and FEM 104B are shown as being distinct fromone another, aspects are not so limited, and include within their scopethe use of an FEM (not shown) that includes a transmit path and/or areceive path for both WLAN and BT signals, or the use of one or more FEMcircuitries where at least some of the FEM circuitries share transmitand/or receive signal paths for both WLAN and BT signals.

Radio IC circuitry 106 as shown may include WLAN radio IC circuitry 106Aand BT radio IC circuitry 106B. The WLAN radio IC circuitry 106A mayinclude a receive signal path which may include circuitry todown-convert WLAN RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 104A andprovide baseband signals to WLAN baseband processing circuitry 108A. BTradio IC circuitry 106B may in turn include a receive signal path whichmay include circuitry to down-convert BT RF signals received from theFEM circuitry 104B and provide baseband signals to BT basebandprocessing circuitry 108B. WLAN radio IC circuitry 106A may also includea transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert WLANbaseband signals provided by the WLAN baseband processing circuitry 108Aand provide WLAN RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 104A forsubsequent wireless transmission by the one or more antennas 101. BTradio IC circuitry 106B may also include a transmit signal path whichmay include circuitry to up-convert BT baseband signals provided by theBT baseband processing circuitry 108B and provide BT RF output signalsto the FEM circuitry 104B for subsequent wireless transmission by theone or more antennas 101. In the aspect of FIG. 1, although radio ICcircuitries 106A and 106B are shown as being distinct from one another,aspects are not so limited, and include within their scope the use of aradio IC circuitry (not shown) that includes a transmit signal pathand/or a receive signal path for both WLAN and BT signals, or the use ofone or more radio IC circuitries where at least some of the radio ICcircuitries share transmit and/or receive signal paths for both WLAN andBT signals.

Baseband processing circuitry 108 may include a WLAN baseband processingcircuitry 108A and a BT baseband processing circuitry 108B. The WLANbaseband processing circuitry 108A may include a memory, such as, forexample, a set of RAM arrays in a Fast Fourier Transform or Inverse FastFourier Transform block (not shown) of the WLAN baseband processingcircuitry 108A. Each of the WLAN baseband circuitry 108A and the BTbaseband circuitry 108B may further include one or more processors andcontrol logic to process the signals received from the correspondingWLAN or BT receive signal path of the radio IC circuitry 106, and toalso generate corresponding WLAN or BT baseband signals for the transmitsignal path of the radio IC circuitry 106. Each of the basebandprocessing circuitries 108A and 108B may further include physical layer(PHY) and medium access control layer (MAC) circuitry, and may furtherinterface with application processor 110 for generation and processingof the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the radio ICcircuitry 106.

Referring still to FIG. 1, according to the shown aspect, WLAN-BTcoexistence circuitry 113 may include logic providing an interfacebetween the WLAN baseband circuitry 108A and the BT baseband circuitry108B to enable use cases requiring WLAN and BT coexistence. In addition,a switch 103 may be provided between the WLAN FEM circuitry 104A and theBT FEM circuitry 104B to allow switching between the WLAN and BT radiosaccording to application needs. In addition, although the antennas 101are depicted as being respectively connected to the WLAN FEM circuitry104A and the BT FEM circuitry 104B, aspects include within their scopethe sharing of one or more antennas as between the WLAN and BT FEMs, orthe provision of more than one antenna connected to each of FEM 104A or104B.

In some aspects, the front-end module circuitry 104, the radio ICcircuitry 106, and baseband processing circuitry 108 may be provided ona single radio card, such as wireless radio card 102. In some otheraspects, the one or more antennas 101, the FEM circuitry 104 and theradio IC circuitry 106 may be provided on a single radio card. In someother aspects, the radio IC circuitry 106 and the baseband processingcircuitry 108 may be provided on a single chip or integrated circuit(IC), such as IC 112.

In some aspects, the wireless radio card 102 may include a WLAN radiocard and may be configured for Wi-Fi communications, although the scopeof the aspects is not limited in this respect. In some of these aspects,the radio architecture 100 may be configured to receive and transmitorthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) or orthogonal frequencydivision multiple access (OFDMA) communication signals over amulticarrier communication channel. The OFDM or OFDMA signals maycomprise a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers.

In some of these multicarrier aspects, radio architecture 100 may bepart of a Wi-Fi communication station (STA) such as a wireless accesspoint (AP), a base station or a mobile device including a Wi-Fi device.In some of these aspects, radio architecture 100 may be configured totransmit and receive signals in accordance with specific communicationstandards and/or protocols, such as any of the Institute of Electricaland Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standards including, 802.11n-2009, IEEE802.11-2012, 802.11n-2009, 802.11ac, and/or 802.1 lax standards and/orproposed specifications for WLANs, although the scope of aspects is notlimited in this respect. Radio architecture 100 may also be suitable totransmit and/or receive communications in accordance with othertechniques and standards.

In some aspects, the radio architecture 100 may be configured forhigh-efficiency (HE) Wi-Fi (HEW) communications in accordance with theIEEE 802.1 lax standard. In these aspects, the radio architecture 100may be configured to communicate in accordance with an OFDMA technique,although the scope of the aspects is not limited in this respect.

In some other aspects, the radio architecture 100 may be configured totransmit and receive signals transmitted using one or more othermodulation techniques such as spread spectrum modulation (e.g., directsequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) and/or frequencyhopping code division multiple access (FH-CDMA)), time-divisionmultiplexing (TDM) modulation, and/or frequency-division multiplexing(FDM) modulation, although the scope of the aspects is not limited inthis respect.

In some aspects, as further shown in FIG. 1, the BT baseband circuitry108B may be compliant with a Bluetooth (BT) connectivity standard suchas Bluetooth, Bluetooth 4.0 or Bluetooth 5.0, or any other iteration ofthe Bluetooth Standard. In aspects that include BT functionality asshown for example in FIG. 1, the radio architecture 100 may beconfigured to establish a BT synchronous connection oriented (SCO) linkand or a BT low energy (BT LE) link. In some of the aspects that includea SCO functionality, the radio architecture 100 may be configured toestablish an extended SCO (eSCO) link for BT communications, althoughthe scope of the aspects is not limited in this respect. In some ofthese aspects that include a BT functionality, the radio architecturemay be configured to engage in a BT Asynchronous Connection-Less (ACL)communications, although the scope of the aspects is not limited in thisrespect. In some aspects, as shown in FIG. 1, the functions of a BTradio card and WLAN radio card may be combined on a single wirelessradio card, such as single wireless radio card 102, although aspects arenot so limited, and include within their scope discrete WLAN and BTradio cards

FIG. 2 illustrates FEM circuitry 200 in accordance with some aspects.The FEM circuitry 200 is one example of circuitry that may be suitablefor use as the WLAN and/or BT FEM circuitry 104A/104B (FIG. 1), althoughother circuitry configurations may also be suitable.

In some aspects, the FEM circuitry 200 may include a TX/RX switch 202 toswitch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEMcircuitry 200 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signalpath. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 200 may include alow-noise amplifier (LNA) 206 to amplify received RF signals 203 andprovide the amplified received RF signals 207 as an output (e.g., to theradio IC circuitry 106 (FIG. 1)). The transmit signal path of thecircuitry 200 may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RFsignals 209 (e.g., provided by the radio IC circuitry 106), and one ormore filters 212, such as band-pass filters (BPFs), low-pass filters(LPFs) or other types of filters, to generate RF signals 215 forsubsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the antennas 101 (FIG.1)).

In some dual-mode aspects for Wi-Fi communication, the FEM circuitry 200may be configured to operate in either the 2.4 GHz frequency spectrum orthe 5 GHz frequency spectrum. In these aspects, the receive signal pathof the FEM circuitry 200 may include a receive signal path duplexer 204to separate the signals from each spectrum as well as provide a separateLNA 206 for each spectrum as shown. In these aspects, the transmitsignal path of the FEM circuitry 200 may also include a power amplifier210 and a filter 212, such as a BPF, a LPF or another type of filter foreach frequency spectrum and a transmit signal path duplexer 214 toprovide the signals of one of the different spectrums onto a singletransmit path for subsequent transmission by the one or more of theantennas 101 (FIG. 1). In some aspects, BT communications may utilizethe 2.4 GHZ signal paths and may utilize the same FEM circuitry 200 asthe one used for WLAN communications.

FIG. 3 illustrates radio IC circuitry 300 in accordance with someaspects. The radio IC circuitry 300 is one example of circuitry that maybe suitable for use as the WLAN or BT radio IC circuitry 106A/106B (FIG.1), although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable.

In some aspects, the radio IC circuitry 300 may include a receive signalpath and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the radio ICcircuitry 300 may include at least mixer circuitry 302, such as, forexample, down-conversion mixer circuitry, amplifier circuitry 306 andfilter circuitry 308. The transmit signal path of the radio IC circuitry300 may include at least filter circuitry 312 and mixer circuitry 314,such as, for example, up-conversion mixer circuitry. Radio IC circuitry300 may also include synthesizer circuitry 304 for synthesizing afrequency 305 for use by the mixer circuitry 302 and the mixer circuitry314. The mixer circuitry 302 and/or 314 may each, according to someaspects, be configured to provide direct conversion functionality. Thelatter type of circuitry presents a much simpler architecture ascompared with standard super-heterodyne mixer circuitries, and anyflicker noise brought about by the same may be alleviated for examplethrough the use of OFDM modulation. FIG. 3 illustrates only a simplifiedversion of a radio IC circuitry, and may include, although not shown,aspects where each of the depicted circuitries may include more than onecomponent. For instance, mixer circuitry 320 and/or 314 may each includeone or more mixers, and filter circuitries 308 and/or 312 may eachinclude one or more filters, such as one or more BPFs and/or LPFsaccording to application needs. For example, when mixer circuitries areof the direct-conversion type, they may each include two or more mixers.

In some aspects, mixer circuitry 302 may be configured to down-convertRF signals 207 received from the FEM circuitry 104 (FIG. 1) based on thesynthesized frequency 305 provided by synthesizer circuitry 304. Theamplifier circuitry 306 may be configured to amplify the down-convertedsignals and the filter circuitry 308 may include a LPF configured toremove unwanted signals from the down-converted signals to generateoutput baseband signals 307. Output baseband signals 307 may be providedto the baseband processing circuitry 108 (FIG. 1) for furtherprocessing. In some aspects, the output baseband signals 307 may bezero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement. Insome aspects, mixer circuitry 302 may comprise passive mixers, althoughthe scope of the aspects is not limited in this respect.

In some aspects, the mixer circuitry 314 may be configured to up-convertinput baseband signals 311 based on the synthesized frequency 305provided by the synthesizer circuitry 304 to generate RF output signals209 for the FEM circuitry 104. The baseband signals 311 may be providedby the baseband processing circuitry 108 and may be filtered by filtercircuitry 312. The filter circuitry 312 may include a LPF or a BPF,although the scope of the aspects is not limited in this respect.

In some aspects, the mixer circuitry 302 and the mixer circuitry 314 mayeach include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadraturedown-conversion and/or up-conversion respectively with the help ofsynthesizer 304. In some aspects, the mixer circuitry 302 and the mixercircuitry 314 may each include two or more mixers each configured forimage rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some aspects, themixer circuitry 302 and the mixer circuitry 314 may be arranged fordirect down-conversion and/or direct up-conversion, respectively. Insome aspects, the mixer circuitry 302 and the mixer circuitry 314 may beconfigured for super-heterodyne operation, although this is not arequirement.

Mixer circuitry 302 may comprise, according to one aspect: quadraturepassive mixers (e.g., for the in-phase (I) and quadrature phase (Q)paths). In such an aspect, RF input signal 207 from FIG. 3 may bedown-converted to provide I and Q baseband output signals to be sent tothe baseband processor

Quadrature passive mixers may be driven by zero and ninety degreetime-varying LO switching signals provided by a quadrature circuitrywhich may be configured to receive a LO frequency (fLO) from a localoscillator or a synthesizer, such as LO frequency 305 of synthesizer 304(FIG. 3). In some aspects, the LO frequency may be the carrierfrequency, while in other aspects, the LO frequency may be a fraction ofthe carrier frequency (e.g., one-half the carrier frequency, one-thirdthe carrier frequency). In some aspects, the zero and ninety degreetime-varying switching signals may be generated by the synthesizer,although the scope of the aspects is not limited in this respect.

In some aspects, the LO signals may differ in duty cycle (the percentageof one period in which the LO signal is high) and/or offset (thedifference between start points of the period). In some aspects, the LOsignals may have a 25% duty cycle and a 50% offset. In some aspects,each branch of the mixer circuitry (e.g., the in-phase (I) andquadrature phase (Q) path) may operate at a 25% duty cycle, which mayresult in a significant reduction of power consumption.

The RF input signal 207 (FIG. 2) may comprise a balanced signal,although the scope of the aspects is not limited in this respect. The Iand Q baseband output signals may be provided to low-nose amplifier,such as amplifier circuitry 306 (FIG. 3) or to filter circuitry 308(FIG. 3).

In some aspects, the output baseband signals 307 and the input basebandsignals 311 may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of theaspects is not limited in this respect. In some alternate aspects, theoutput baseband signals 307 and the input baseband signals 311 may bedigital baseband signals. In these alternate aspects, the radio ICcircuitry may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) anddigital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry.

In some dual-mode aspects, a separate radio IC circuitry may be providedfor processing signals for each spectrum, or for other spectrums notmentioned here, although the scope of the aspects is not limited in thisrespect.

In some aspects, the synthesizer circuitry 304 may be a fractional-Nsynthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer, although the scope of theaspects is not limited in this respect as other types of frequencysynthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuitry 304 maybe a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizercomprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider. According tosome aspects, the synthesizer circuitry 304 may include digitalsynthesizer circuitry. An advantage of using a digital synthesizercircuitry is that, although it may still include some analog components,its footprint may be scaled down much more than the footprint of ananalog synthesizer circuitry. In some aspects, frequency input intosynthesizer circuitry 304 may be provided by a voltage controlledoscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. A divider controlinput may further be provided by either the baseband processingcircuitry 108 (FIG. 1) or the application processor 110 (FIG. 1)depending on the desired output frequency 305. In some aspects, adivider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up table(e.g., within a Wi-Fi card) based on a channel number and a channelcenter frequency as determined or indicated by the application processor110.

In some aspects, synthesizer circuitry 304 may be configured to generatea carrier frequency as the output frequency 305, while in other aspects,the output frequency 305 may be a fraction of the carrier frequency(e.g., one-half the carrier frequency, one-third the carrier frequency).In some aspects, the output frequency 305 may be a LO frequency (fLO).

FIG. 4 illustrates a functional block diagram of baseband processingcircuitry 400 in accordance with some aspects. The baseband processingcircuitry 400 is one example of circuitry that may be suitable for useas the baseband processing circuitry 108 (FIG. 1), although othercircuitry configurations may also be suitable. The baseband processingcircuitry 400 may include a receive baseband processor (RX BBP) 402 forprocessing receive baseband signals 309 provided by the radio ICcircuitry 106 (FIG. 1) and a transmit baseband processor (TX BBP) 404for generating transmit baseband signals 311 for the radio IC circuitry106. The baseband processing circuitry 400 may also include controllogic 406 for coordinating the operations of the baseband processingcircuitry 400.

In some aspects (e.g., when analog baseband signals are exchangedbetween the baseband processing circuitry 400 and the radio IC circuitry106), the baseband processing circuitry 400 may include ADC 410 toconvert analog baseband signals received from the radio IC circuitry 106to digital baseband signals for processing by the RX BBP 402. In theseaspects, the baseband processing circuitry 400 may also include DAC 412to convert digital baseband signals from the TX BBP 404 to analogbaseband signals.

In some aspects that communicate OFDM signals or OFDMA signals, such asthrough baseband processor 108A, the transmit baseband processor 404 maybe configured to generate OFDM or OFDMA signals as appropriate fortransmission by performing an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT). Thereceive baseband processor 402 may be configured to process receivedOFDM signals or OFDMA signals by performing an FFT. In some aspects, thereceive baseband processor 402 may be configured to detect the presenceof an OFDM signal or OFDMA signal by performing an autocorrelation, todetect a preamble, such as a short preamble, and by performing across-correlation, to detect a long preamble. The preambles may be partof a predetermined frame structure for Wi-Fi communication.

Referring back to FIG. 1, in some aspects, the antennas 101 (FIG. 1) mayeach comprise one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas,including, for example, dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patchantennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas or other types of antennassuitable for transmission of RF signals. In some multiple-inputmultiple-output (MIMO) aspects, the antennas may be effectivelyseparated to take advantage of spatial diversity and the differentchannel characteristics that may result. Antennas 101 may each include aset of phased-array antennas, although aspects are not so limited.

Although the radio-architecture 100 is illustrated as having severalseparate functional elements, one or more of the functional elements maybe combined and may be implemented by combinations ofsoftware-configured elements, such as processing elements includingdigital signal processors (DSPs), and/or other hardware elements. Forexample, some elements may comprise one or more microprocessors, DSPs,field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) andcombinations of various hardware and logic circuitry for performing atleast the functions described herein. In some aspects, the functionalelements may refer to one or more processes operating on one or moreprocessing elements.

Example Machine Description

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of an example machine 500 upon whichany one or more of the techniques (e.g., methodologies) discussed hereinmay performed. In alternative aspects, the machine 500 may operate as astandalone device or may be connected (e.g., networked) to othermachines. In a networked deployment, the machine 500 may operate in thecapacity of a server machine, a client machine, or both in server-clientnetwork environments. In an example, the machine 500 may act as a peermachine in peer-to-peer (P2P) (or other distributed) networkenvironment. The machine 500 may be a user equipment (UE), unmannedaerial vehicle (UAV) or other vehicle, evolved Node B (eNB), nextgeneration evolved Node B (gNB), next generation access network (AN),next generation user plane function (UPF), Wi-Fi access point (AP),Wi-Fi station (STA), personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box(STB), a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, a smartphone, a web appliance, a network router, switch or bridge, or anymachine capable of executing instructions (sequential or otherwise) thatspecify actions to be taken by that machine. Further, while only asingle machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shall also be taken toinclude any collection of machines that individually or jointly executea set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more ofthe methodologies discussed herein, such as cloud computing, software asa service (SaaS), other computer cluster configurations.

Examples, as described herein, may include, or may operate on, logic ora number of components, modules, or mechanisms. Modules are tangibleentities (e.g., hardware) capable of performing specified operations andmay be configured or arranged in a certain manner. In an example,circuits may be arranged (e.g., internally or with respect to externalentities such as other circuits) in a specified manner as a module. Inan example, the whole or part of one or more computer systems (e.g., astandalone, client or server computer system) or one or more hardwareprocessors may be configured by firmware or software (e.g.,instructions, an application portion, or an application) as a modulethat operates to perform specified operations. In an example, thesoftware may reside on a machine readable medium. In an example, thesoftware, when executed by the underlying hardware of the module, causesthe hardware to perform the specified operations.

Accordingly, the term “module” is understood to encompass a tangibleentity, be that an entity that is physically constructed, specificallyconfigured (e.g., hardwired), or temporarily (e.g., transitorily)configured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a specified manner or toperform part or all of any operation described herein. Consideringexamples in which modules are temporarily configured, each of themodules need not be instantiated at any one moment in time. For example,where the modules comprise a general-purpose hardware processorconfigured using software, the general-purpose hardware processor may beconfigured as respective different modules at different times.

Software may accordingly configure a hardware processor, for example, toconstitute a particular module at one instance of time and to constitutea different module at a different instance of time.

Machine (e.g., computer system) 500 may include a controller 502 (e.g.,a hardware processor, a central processing unit (CPU), a graphicsprocessing unit (GPU), a hardware processor core, or any combinationthereof), a main memory 504 and a static memory 506, some or all ofwhich may communicate with each other via an interlink (e.g., bus) 508.The machine 500 may further include a display unit 510, an alphanumericinput device 512 (e.g., a keyboard), and a user interface (UI)navigation device 514 (e.g., a mouse). In an example, the display unit510, input device 512 and UI navigation device 514 may be a touch screendisplay. The machine 500 may additionally include a storage device(e.g., drive unit) 516, a signal generation device 518 (e.g., aspeaker), a network interface device 520, and one or more sensors 521.The sensors 521 can include on-board vehicle sensors or other types ofvehicle sensors such as speed sensors, etc. The sensors 521 can includesensors capable of detecting location or for utilizing a service fordetecting or determining location, such as a global positioning system(GPS) sensor, compass, accelerometer, or other sensor. The sensors 521can include sensors capable of detecting elevation. The machine 500 mayinclude an output controller 532, such as a serial (e.g., universalserial bus (USB), parallel, or other wired or wireless (e.g., infrared(IR), near field communication (NFC), etc.) connection to communicate orcontrol one or more peripheral devices (e.g., a printer, card reader,etc.).

The storage device 516 may include a machine readable medium 522 onwhich is stored one or more sets of data structures or instructions 524(e.g., software) embodying or utilized by any one or more of thetechniques or functions described herein. The instructions 524 may alsoreside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 504,within static memory 506, or within the controller 502 during executionthereof by the machine 500. In an example, one or any combination of thecontroller 502, the main memory 504, the static memory 506, or thestorage device 516 may constitute machine readable media.

While the machine readable medium 522 is illustrated as a single medium,the term “machine readable medium” may include a single medium ormultiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/orassociated caches and servers) configured to store the one or moreinstructions 524.

The term “machine readable medium” may include any medium that iscapable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution bythe machine 500 and that cause the machine 500 to perform any one ormore of the techniques of the present disclosure, or that is capable ofstoring, encoding or carrying data structures used by or associated withsuch instructions. Non-limiting machine readable medium examples mayinclude solid-state memories, and optical and magnetic media. Specificexamples of machine readable media may include: non-volatile memory,such as semiconductor memory devices (e.g., Electrically ProgrammableRead-Only Memory (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-OnlyMemory (EEPROM)) and flash memory devices; magnetic disks, such asinternal hard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks; RandomAccess Memory (RAM); and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks. In some examples,machine readable media may include non-transitory machine readablemedia. In some examples, machine readable media may include machinereadable media that is not a transitory propagating signal.

The instructions 524 may further be transmitted or received over acommunications network 526 using a transmission medium via the networkinterface device 520 utilizing any one of a number of transfer protocols(e.g., frame relay, internet protocol (IP), transmission controlprotocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP), hypertext transferprotocol (HTTP), etc.). In an example, the network interface device 520may include a plurality of antennas to wirelessly communicate using atleast one of single-input multiple-output (SIMO), multiple-inputmultiple-output (MIMO), or multiple-input single-output (MISO)techniques. In some examples, the network interface device 520 maywirelessly communicate using Multiple User MIMO techniques. The term“transmission medium” shall be taken to include any intangible mediumthat is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions forexecution by the machine 500, and includes digital or analogcommunications signals or other intangible medium to facilitatecommunication of such software.

Example UE Description

As used herein, the term “circuitry” may refer to, be part of, orinclude an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electroniccircuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group), and/or memory(shared, dedicated, or group) that execute one or more software orfirmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitablehardware components that provide the described functionality. In someaspects, the circuitry may be implemented in, or functions associatedwith the circuitry may be implemented by, one or more software orfirmware modules. In some aspects, circuitry may include logic, at leastpartially operable in hardware.

Aspects described herein may be implemented into a system using anysuitably configured hardware and/or software. FIG. 6 illustrates, forone aspect, example components of a User Equipment (UE) device 600. Insome aspects, the UE device 600 may include application circuitry 602,baseband circuitry 604, Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry 606, front-endmodule (FEM) circuitry 608 and one or more antennas 610, coupledtogether at least as shown. In some aspects, the UE can be a drone orUAV.

The application circuitry 602 may include one or more applicationprocessors. For example, the application circuitry 602 may includecircuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core ormulti-core processors. The processor(s) may include any combination ofgeneral-purpose processors and dedicated processors (e.g., graphicsprocessors, application processors, etc.). The processors may be coupledwith and/or may include memory/storage and may be configured to executeinstructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applicationsand/or operating systems to run on the system.

The baseband circuitry 604 may include circuitry such as, but notlimited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. Thebaseband circuitry 604 may include one or more baseband processorsand/or control logic to process baseband signals received from a receivesignal path of the RF circuitry 606 and to generate baseband signals fora transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 606. Baseband processingcircuitry 604 may interface with the application circuitry 602 forgeneration and processing of the baseband signals and for controllingoperations of the RF circuitry 606. For example, in some aspects, thebaseband circuitry 604 may include a second generation (2G) basebandprocessor 604A, third generation (3G) baseband processor 604B, fourthgeneration (4G) baseband processor 604C, and/or other basebandprocessor(s) 604D for other existing generations, generations indevelopment or to be developed in the future (e.g., fifth generation(5G), 6G, etc.). The baseband circuitry 604 (e.g., one or more ofbaseband processors 604A-D) may handle various radio control functionsthat enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RFcircuitry 606.

The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signalmodulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radio frequency shifting,etc. In some aspects, modulation/demodulation circuitry of the basebandcircuitry 604 may include Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT), precoding,and/or constellation mapping/demapping functionality. In some aspects,encoding/decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry 604 may includeconvolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, and/or Low DensityParity Check (LDPC) encoder/decoder functionality. Aspects ofmodulation/demodulation and encoder/decoder functionality are notlimited to these examples and may include other suitable functionalityin other aspects.

In some aspects, the baseband circuitry 604 may include elements of aprotocol stack such as, for example, elements of an evolved universalterrestrial radio access network (EUTRAN) protocol including, forexample, physical (PHY), media access control (MAC), radio link control(RLC), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), and/or radio resourcecontrol (RRC) elements. A central processing unit (CPU) 604E of thebaseband circuitry 604 may be configured to run elements of the protocolstack for signaling of the PHY, MAC, RLC, PDCP and/or RRC layers. Insome aspects, the baseband circuitry may include one or more audiodigital signal processor(s) (DSP) 604F. The audio DSP(s) 604F may beinclude elements for compression/decompression and echo cancellation andmay include other suitable processing elements in other aspects.Components of the baseband circuitry may be suitably combined in asingle chip, a single chipset, or disposed on a same circuit board insome aspects. In some aspects, some or all of the constituent componentsof the baseband circuitry 604 and the application circuitry 602 may beimplemented together such as, for example, on a system on a chip (SOC).

In some aspects, the baseband circuitry 604 may provide forcommunication compatible with one or more radio technologies. Forexample, in some aspects, the baseband circuitry 604 may supportcommunication with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network(EUTRAN) and/or other wireless metropolitan area networks (WMAN), awireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless personal area network(WPAN). Aspects in which the baseband circuitry 604 is configured tosupport radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may bereferred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

RF circuitry 606 may enable communication with wireless networks usingmodulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. Invarious aspects, the RF circuitry 606 may include switches, filters,amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wirelessnetwork. RF circuitry 606 may include a receive signal path which mayinclude circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEMcircuitry 608 and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry604. RF circuitry 606 may also include a transmit signal path which mayinclude circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by thebaseband circuitry 604 and provide RF output signals to the FEMcircuitry 608 for transmission.

In some aspects, the RF circuitry 606 may include a receive signal pathand a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the RF circuitry606 may include mixer circuitry 606A, amplifier circuitry 606B andfilter circuitry 606C. The transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 606may include filter circuitry 606C and mixer circuitry 606A. RF circuitry606 may also include synthesizer circuitry 606D for synthesizing afrequency for use by the mixer circuitry 606A of the receive signal pathand the transmit signal path. In some aspects, the mixer circuitry 606Aof the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert RF signalsreceived from the FEM circuitry 608 based on the synthesized frequencyprovided by synthesizer circuitry 606D. The amplifier circuitry 606B maybe configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filtercircuitry 606C may be a low-pass filter (LPF) or band-pass filter (BPF)configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signals togenerate output baseband signals. Output baseband signals may beprovided to the baseband circuitry 604 for further processing. In someaspects, the output baseband signals may be zero-frequency basebandsignals, although this is not a requirement. In some aspects, mixercircuitry 606A of the receive signal path may comprise passive mixers,although the scope of the aspects is not limited in this respect.

In some aspects, the mixer circuitry 606A of the transmit signal pathmay be configured to up-convert input baseband signals based on thesynthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry 606D togenerate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry 608. The basebandsignals may be provided by the baseband circuitry 604 and may befiltered by filter circuitry 606C. The filter circuitry 606C may includea low-pass filter (LPF), although the scope of the aspects is notlimited in this respect.

In some aspects, the mixer circuitry 606A of the receive signal path andthe mixer circuitry 606A of the transmit signal path may include two ormore mixers and may be arranged for quadrature downconversion and/orupconversion respectively. In some aspects, the mixer circuitry 606A ofthe receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 606A of the transmitsignal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for imagerejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some aspects, the mixercircuitry 606A of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 606Aof the transmit signal path may be arranged for direct downconversionand/or direct upconversion, respectively. In some aspects, the mixercircuitry 606A of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 606Aof the transmit signal path may be configured for super-heterodyneoperation.

In some aspects, the output baseband signals and the input basebandsignals may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of theaspects is not limited in this respect. In some alternate aspects, theoutput baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be digitalbaseband signals. In these alternate aspects, the RF circuitry 606 mayinclude analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analogconverter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry 604 may include adigital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuitry 606.

In some dual-mode aspects, a separate radio IC circuitry may be providedfor processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope of theaspects is not limited in this respect.

In some aspects, the synthesizer circuitry 606D may be a fractional-Nsynthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer, although the scope of theaspects is not limited in this respect as other types of frequencysynthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuitry 606Dmay be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or asynthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

The synthesizer circuitry 606D may be configured to synthesize an outputfrequency for use by the mixer circuitry 606A of the RF circuitry 606based on a frequency input and a divider control input. In some aspects,the synthesizer circuitry 606D may be a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer.

In some aspects, frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlledoscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. Divider controlinput may be provided by either the baseband circuitry 604 or theapplications processor 602 depending on the desired output frequency. Insome aspects, a divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from alook-up table based on a channel indicated by the applications processor602.

Synthesizer circuitry 606D of the RF circuitry 606 may include adivider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phaseaccumulator. In some aspects, the divider may be a dual modulus divider(DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator(DPA). In some aspects, the DMD may be configured to divide the inputsignal by either N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry out) to provide afractional division ratio. In some example aspects, the DLL may includea set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phase detector, a chargepump and a D-type flip-flop. In these aspects, the delay elements may beconfigured to break a VCO period up into Nd equal packets of phase,where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way,the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delaythrough the delay line is one VCO cycle.

In some aspects, synthesizer circuitry 606D may be configured togenerate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in otheraspects, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrier frequency(e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency)and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and divider circuitryto generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency with multipledifferent phases with respect to each other. In some aspects, the outputfrequency may be a LO frequency (fLO). In some aspects, the RF circuitry606 may include an IQ/polar converter.

FEM circuitry 608 may include a receive signal path which may includecircuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from one or moreantennas 610, amplify the received signals and provide the amplifiedversions of the received signals to the RF circuitry 606 for furtherprocessing. FEM circuitry 608 may also include a transmit signal pathwhich may include circuitry configured to amplify signals fortransmission provided by the RF circuitry 606 for transmission by one ormore of the one or more antennas 610.

In some aspects, the FEM circuitry 608 may include a TX/RX switch toswitch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEMcircuitry 608 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signalpath. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 608 may include alow-noise amplifier (LNA) to amplify received RF signals and provide theamplified received RF signals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry606). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 608 may include apower amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by RFcircuitry 606), and one or more filters to generate RF signals forsubsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the one or moreantennas 610.

In some aspects, the UE device 600 may include additional elements suchas, for example, memory/storage, display, camera, sensor, and/orinput/output (I/O) interface.

In Long Term Evolution (LTE) and 5G systems, a mobile terminal (referredto as a User Equipment or UE) connects to the cellular network via abase station (BS), referred to as an evolved Node B or eNB in LTEsystems and as a next generation evolved Node B or gNB in 5G or NRsystems. FIG. 7 illustrates an example of the components of a UE 704 anda base station (e.g., eNB or gNB) 700. The BS 700 includes processingcircuitry 701 connected to a radio transceiver 702 for providing an airinterface. The UE 704 includes processing circuitry 706 connected to aradio transceiver 708 for providing an air interface over the wirelessmedium. Each of the transceivers in the devices is connected to antennas710. The antennas 710 of the devices form antenna arrays whosedirectionality may be controlled by the processing circuitry. Inexamples, the antennas 710 can be coupled to electrical or mechanicalapparatuses to tilt antennas 710 toward targeted cells. In examples, theantennas 710 can include at least two receiving antennas, and the atleast two receiving antennas can include at least one omni-directionalantenna and at least one directional antenna for measuring ReferenceSignal Received Power (RSRP) or a similar value. The memory andprocessing circuitries of the UE and/or BS may be configured to performthe functions and implement the schemes of the various aspects describedherein. The UE can also be configured to operate as a drone or UAV.

Descriptions of Aspects

Drone Traffic Control Using Cellular Technology

Methods and apparatuses according to aspects can provide trafficmanagement for drones, also referred to as UAVs. Methods and apparatusescan extend traffic management from 2D to 3D traffic management. FIG. 8illustrates traffic management in three dimensions according to someaspects.

A central controller 800 can be operated by traffic control authoritiesfor a region, district, municipality, etc. The central controller 800can include components of the computing system 500 (FIG. 5). The centralcontroller 800 can communicate wireless to BS 801. BS 801 can includeelements of BS 700 (FIG. 7).

UAV 803 typically moves within “corridors,” or flying paths inthree-dimensional space. For example, UAV 803 can move in one ofcorridors 802, 804, or 806, wherein each corridor 802, 804, 806 may bespaced at an elevation 805, 807 relative to the other corridors. Whilethree corridors are shown, there may be more or fewer than threecorridors located within a region defined by geographical coordinates.

The traffic signs 808, 810, 812 may be physical signs. However, in someaspects, traffic control signaling will be communicated with wirelesssignaling (“virtual traffic signs”), rather than installations ofphysical signs, controlled by the central controller 800 andcommunicated by BS 801. In some aspects, the location of traffic controlsignaling can be communicated through use of maps.

In aspects, wireless signaling can also be provided for some non-UAVautonomous vehicles. Methods according to aspects provide signaling formovement in two dimensions or in three dimensions. Physical signs mayalso exist in each corridor 802, 804, 806 to control 2D movement withinthat corridor.

A virtual traffic sign can be defined by a location, where the locationcan include a point in 3D space where conditions of the virtual trafficsign apply.

The location can be specified as geographical coordinates andelevations/altitudes. The virtual traffic sign is further definedaccording to its type. For example, the type of virtual traffic sign canindicate whether the corresponding virtual traffic sign is a trafficallowance, a traffic direction, etc. The virtual traffic sign may existtemporarily or permanently, and values for the virtual traffic sign mayvary with time or may be fixed. The virtual traffic sign may apply toall UAVs or only to certain UAVs based on priority and type of UAV. Somevirtual traffic signs may apply to traffic traveling in two dimensions,whereas some virtual traffic signs may control vehicular movement in athird dimension. For example, some virtual traffic signs may indicatewhether a UAV is permitted to move to a new elevation. The virtualtraffic signs can be coded (e.g., by color or other mechanism) tospecify traffic management in different dimensions. For example, a firstcolor or code can specify that the virtual traffic sign relates to 2Dflow management (left, right, straight). A second color or code canspecify that the corresponding traffic management is for UAVs changingto a lower corridor (e.g., from corridor 804 to 806). A third color orcode can specify that the corresponding traffic management is for UAVschanging to an upper corridor (e.g., from corridor 804 to 802).

Methods according to aspects can rely on a soft decision approach fortraffic signs, rather than a hard decision approach. This is illustratedby comparing FIG. 9, which depicts a hard decision approach to detours,to FIG. 10, which depicts a soft decision approach for detours accordingto some aspects.

As shown in FIG. 9, if traffic is blocked at 902, all traffic isdirected to the right in a hard decision. In contrast, in FIG. 10, givenblockage 1002, some traffic (e.g., a percentage of traffic) can bedirected to road 1004, other traffic can be directed to road 1006, andstill other traffic can be directed to road 1008. In the case of UAVtraffic, traffic can also be directed in a similar fashion betweencorridors (e.g., routes at different elevations). In at least theseaspects, virtual traffic signs can include a probability that aparticular UAV will take a particular route or go to a particularcorridor.

A message 1100 transmitted by that virtual traffic sign is illustratedin FIG. 11. The message 1100 can be configured by the central controller800 and the central controller 800 can communicate the message to BS 801over communications network 526 (FIG. 5).

The message 1100 can include a virtual traffic sign type field 1102.Examples of values include “stop sign,” “traffic light,” etc. Themessage 1100 can further include a number of states field 1104. Forexample, a “traffic light,” can include states “RED” and “GREEN,” inwhich case the number of states field 1104 will contain the value “2.”The message 1100 can include additional fields 1106, 1108 indicating theprobability that any of the states will apply to a particular UAV. Forexample, field 1106 can indicate the probability (e.g., indicated inpercent likelihood) that the virtual traffic sign will have state 1 withrespect to a particular UAV. Field 1108 can indicate the probabilitythat the virtual traffic sign will have state n with respect to aparticular UAV. Fields 1106, 1108 can also be associated to aprobabilistic distribution such that one set of numbers, provided by theUAV, will be associated to a first state (e.g., virtual traffic signvalue), and a second set of numbers will be associated to the nth state.The message can also include an indication of a plurality of trafficactions to take in response to the virtual traffic sign. Examples caninclude “turn right,” “go up,” etc.

FIG. 12 illustrates a method 1200 for traffic control according to someaspects. The method 1200 can be implemented by the central controller800 using components illustrated in FIG. 5 (e.g., hardware processor orcontroller 502).

The method 1200 begins with operation 1202 with the hardware processormaking a determination to adjust a traffic condition. The determinationcan be based on detection of a road hazard, traffic jam, or othercondition, or the determination can be based on historical data. Forexample, the determination can be made based on knowledge of peaktraffic conditions during a day or other time period. The determinationmay be made based on reports from UAVs, traffic personnel, autonomousvehicles, etc.

The method 1200 continues with operation 1204 with the hardwareprocessor controlling a virtual traffic sign based on the trafficcondition. The hardware processor can control the virtual traffic signby adjusting a message similar to message 1100 (FIG. 11). For example,the hardware processor can adjust the probability that a certain stateof the virtual traffic sign will apply to a given UAV, or the hardwareprocessor can change the type of the virtual traffic sign (e.g., from astop sign to a turn signal).

The method 1200 can further include operations of adjusting parametersfor the virtual traffic sign according to a machine-learning algorithm.

Adjustments can be made based on whether a traffic condition changed orworsened based on the control of the virtual traffic sign according tooperation 1204. For example, in some aspects, the probability of a statebeing applicable to a virtual traffic sign can be reduced or increasedif that state resulted in worse or improved traffic conditions. In otheraspects, adjustments can be made based on changes in traffic conditions,regardless of whether a state was determined to worsen or improve thetraffic conditions. Adjustments can be made to remove or change thevirtual traffic sign periodically based on time of day or other factors.

FIG. 13 illustrates a method 1300 for controlling a UAV according tosome aspects. The method 1300 can be implemented by the UAV 803 (FIG. 8)using components illustrated in FIG. 7 (e.g., processing circuitry 706).

The method 1300 begins with operation 1302 with the processing circuitry706 receiving a signal that indicates a state of a virtual traffic sign.In some aspects, the state can include a message at least somewhatsimilar to message 1100 (FIG. 11).

The method 1300 continues with operation 1304 with identifying a trafficaction to take based on the state of the virtual traffic sign. In someexamples, the processing circuitry 706 may be directed to select arandom number. The processing circuitry 706 can determine an applicablestate of the virtual traffic sign that corresponds to that randomnumber. For example, with reference to FIG. 11, field 1106 may beassociated to a first set of numbers, and field 1108 may be associatedwith a second set of numbers, and the processing circuitry 706 willdetermine the applicable state based on whether the random number fallswithin the first set of numbers or the second set of numbers.

The method 1300 continues with operation 1306 with the UAV adopting thespecified traffic action. For example, if the state of the virtualtraffic sign (identified based on the selected random number) indicatesthat the UAV should change elevation, the UAV will change elevation.

In aspects, UAVs are categorized according to type. For example, a UAVcan be classified as an emergency UAV, a police UAV, a publicsurveillance UAV, a private surveillance UAV, a freight UAV, atelecommunications UAV, an infrastructure monitoring UAV, a privateleisure UAV, or other type of UAV. Based on the category, methodsaccording to aspects can assign a priority to a UAV. Priority may beassigned based on local (e.g., national, regional or municipal)regulations. For example, a private leisure UAV may be assigned lowestpriority, while an emergency UAV may be assigned highest priority.

UAV autonomy level can also be assigned. Such autonomy level may be atleast somewhat similar to that provided in specifications according tothe Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) family of standards or as usedby the 5G Automotive Association (5GAA). For example, a UAV may haveautomation level 0, in which the UAV has no automatic features and aremote pilot has full control of the UAV. A UAV may have automationlevel 1, in which the UAV has automation control for one or more controlfunctions (for example, altitude control or stationary flight). A UAVmay have automation level 2, in which the UAV has automation control fortwo or more control functions (for example, altitude control, stationaryflight, or speed). At automation level 3, the UAV remote pilot does notconstantly monitor the environment of the UAV. At automation level 4,the UAV can automatically perform flight functions (including take-offand landing) under certain conditions, but the remote pilot has theoption to take control of the UAV at any point. At automation level 5,the UAV can automatically perform flight functions under all conditions,but the remote pilot still has the option to take control of the UAV atany point.

In some aspects, UAV traffic control can be broadcast by the cellularnetwork using system information blocks, multimedia broadcast/multicastservice (MBMS), or using PC5 sidelink communications. To enhance therobustness of the communication, a redundancy channel can be used forthe wireless communication. The number of redundancy channels may dependon the UAV's priority or type. The resource selection by the UAV(Transmission mode 4—TM4) or the eNB/gNB (Transmission mode 3—TM3) maydepend on the UAV's priority or type. For instance, the high priorityUAV may have a dedicated resource block reserved.

In response to virtual traffic sign traffic control, in some aspects UAVoperation can be controlled through direction of a remote operator(e.g., a remote control center) or through policies that are appliedautomatically.

Signaling can be extended to encompass UAV use cases. For example, theparameters defined in European Telecommunications Standards Institute(ETSI) specifications can be extended to include UAV use cases to notifyUAVs of traffic rules including area restriction, altitude restriction,corridor restriction, speed limit, etc. The restrictions or limits canvary based on the UAV priority or UAV type.

New messages can be introduced (in ETSI specifications, for example ETSITS 101 894-2 or other specifications) to allow a UAV to communicateregarding events such as change of line, change of direction, change ofaltitude, overtaking, UAV volume, etc., or to notify of takeoff andlanding. According to one example, a parameter DriveDirection can beextended to include vertical movement (e.g., up and down). According toanother example, a parameter TrafficRule can be extended to consider thepriority type of a UAV. New parameters can be added to notify UAVs orautonomous vehicles about wireless (virtual) traffic signs or to notifyof 3D transport pipes.

Messaging can also suggest restrictions to other UAVs to prevent otherUAVs from entering a restricted area during a period of time (forexample, during a takeoff or landing procedure). The restricted area canbe defined using geographical coordinates and altitudes or using a zoneidentifier. The restricted area can be assigned to one or more UAVs. Therestricted area can be specified during takeoff or landing eitherstatically or dynamically. If done dynamically, a UAV can broadcast thatthe UAV will start a takeoff or landing procedure and indicate thecoordinates (e.g., define a corridor). In other aspects, the UAV maynegotiate restricted areas with nearby UAVs, or the UAV may first obtainpermission from a traffic controller. The takeoff and landing procedurecan be performed by the UAV itself, or the UAV may act upon commandsfrom a control center on the ground or on another UAV.

Because a UAV can move in three dimensions, a UAV can overtake otherUAVs by flying above or below other UAVs. Collision detection can beexpanded to include warning messages that indicate the angle anddirection used to overtake a UAV. Warning messages can be broadcast tothe UAV being overtaken and to other nearby UAVs.

V2X Enhancement for Vehicle Steering Collaboration and Remote Control

In some situations, it may be desirable for a vehicle to take partiallyor completely control operations of another vehicle. For example, anemergency vehicle or police vehicle may need to take control overproximate autonomous vehicles. In other examples, one vehicle may nothave complete visibility of the environment, but another nearby vehicle(e.g., drone, or UAV) may have improved visibility. The two vehicles maythen collaborate and one vehicle can send control command to anothervehicle.

Aspects provide methods for distributed control between vehicles using,for example, sidelink communication. Several control levels can bedefined. According to aspects implementing high level control, thecontrolling device can transmit a global (high-level) command such as“stop car” and the car under control will operate all the necessaryaction to stop the car. According to aspects implementing low levelcontrol, the controlling device can transmit dedicated commands tooperate other vehicle. The dedicate commands can include steering of thewheel, change of vehicle speed, and other limited operations.

In some aspects, control can be done remotely when a pilot or driveoperates a UAV or remote vehicle. In other aspects, proximity controlcan be performed on a vehicle by a different proximate vehicle. In someaspects, vehicles may follow a lead vehicle/UAV, in a direction asneeded by emergency/police vehicles. In some aspects, a combination ofremote and proximity control can be implemented.

In aspects implementing proximity control, the controlling vehicle ordevice shall be in the reception range of the vehicle under control. Thecommunication is performed using a PC5 sidelink connection. As analternative the control protocol can be implemented on top of shortrange communication protocol such as Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. In such case afirst pairing or association shall be performed before control is takenof the controlled vehicle. The controlling device can be a road-sideunit (RSU). In another example, a RSU may control a vehicle to park or aUAV to land and takeoff. This may reduce the risk of collision and allowa good coordination of all vehicles needs to park or start. In aspectsimplementing remote control a different connectivity solution can beused including cellular communication under any cellular communicationstandards, such as LTE or 5G.

In yet other aspects, collaborative vehicle steering (or distributedcontrol) can take place. In at least these aspects, a vehicle maypartially take control over the controlled vehicle when the controlledvehicle has limited information or line-of-sight necessary to makesteering decisions or other decisions. In one alternative, thecontrolling vehicle provides sensor information or other neededinformation to the controlled vehicle, using communications depending onproximity between the controlled and controlling vehicle. In theseaspects, the controlled vehicle has full autonomy on steering using theprovided information. In another alternative, the controlled vehicle canprovide any available sensor information to the controlling vehicle, andthe controlling vehicle thereafter takes control of steering, etc. forthe controlled vehicle. In yet another alternative, the controllingvehicle may provide some steering commands to the controlled vehicle,but the controlled vehicle will rely on its own sensor data for steeringwhere the sensor data is useful for steering. For example, thecontrolled vehicle may control speed but direction can be determined bythe controlling vehicle. This can occur, for example, when thecontrolling vehicle is a UAV with improved line-of-sight to directsteering direction. Before starting distributive control, a handshakecan be performed between the vehicles to share the type of sensor dataavailable at each side and to agree on the split of the steeringfunction between the vehicles.

In some aspects, more than one controlling vehicle may be capable ofcontrolling the same controlled vehicle. In at least these aspects,priority can be defined so that the controlled vehicle can select whichcommand to execute in case of conflicting commands. Doppler signals canbe used to identify the direction of vehicle traffic to distinguishbetween traffic flowing in the same direction as an emergency responder,from traffic flowing in an opposite direction of the emergencyresponder. In some aspects, encryption levels of control messages can beadjusted. For example, when latency is not important, encryption may beincreased. In contrast, in emergency or time-critical situations,encryption of control messages may be minimal. In such emergencysituations, all nearby vehicles may be capable of decrypting controlcommunications quickly.

Some aspects also provide for monitoring the behavior of a vehiclebefore taking control, and for modifying control type based on theobserved behavior. For example, when a vehicle appears to be out ofcontrol because a driver is not reacting, the vehicle may be forced tobe under remote or proximate control. At least these aspects areillustrated in FIG. 14.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example of applying a vehicle control state basedon a remote control center 1402 request according to some aspects. Theremote control center 1402 can include a system similar at least tosystem 500 (FIG. 5) and some operations can be implemented in a hardwareprocessor or by antenna/s 530 communicating over network 526 to receiveand transmit the signals described with reference to FIG. 14.

In at least some aspects, a RSU 1400 can gather input from road-sidesensors and provide them to remote control center 1402 in a report atsignal 1404. The vehicle/UAV 1406 can also include elements of a system500 for implementing operations illustrated in FIG. 14. For example, thevehicle/UAV 1406 can include hardware processor and sensors 521 (e.g.,in the form of onboard sensors, speed sensors, GPS, etc.). The hardwareprocessor can therefore encode a report for transmission to a remoteoperator, the report including metrics on vehicle behavior based oninputs of at least one of sensor/s 521.

Road-side sensors can include radar, video camera, or sensors from othervehicles using sidelink communications, DSCR, or V2X. The remote controlcenter 1402 can also query the vehicle/UAV 1406 at signal 1408 formetrics on vehicle/UAV 1406 behavior. The metrics can be provided byvehicle sensors 521 (e.g., onboard sensors, speed sensors, etc. asdescribed above). The vehicle/UAV 1406 can provide the requested metricsat signal 1410. At operation 1412, the remote control center 1402 (e.g.,hardware processor of the remote control center 1402) can evaluatewhether remote control or other control should be imposed on thevehicle/UAV 1406. In decision block 1413, if no remote control isneeded, no further action is taken by the remote control center.Otherwise, at operations 1414 and 1416, either remote or autonomouscontrol is applied, respectively, using signals 1418 or 1420. In someaspects, vehicle/UAV hardware processor can evaluate reliability ofsensors 521 before deciding whether and to what extent to implementremote control. In some aspects, the vehicle/UAV hardware processor caninclude decryption circuitry and can refrain from implementing remotecontrol if the control signaling cannot be decrypted.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example of change of vehicle control stateresponsive to vehicle initiation according to some aspects. Avehicle/UAV 1500 can include a system similar at least to system 500(FIG. 5) and some operations can be implemented in a hardware processoror by antenna/s 530 communicating over network 526 to receive andtransmit the signals described with reference to FIG. 15. Similarly,remote control center 1502 can include elements of a system similar tosystem 500.

In operation 1504, a vehicle/UAV hardware processor can evaluateon-board sensors to determine whether autonomous or remote controlshould be imposed by the remote control center 1502. In decision block1506, if no action is required, then no control signal is sent from theremote control center 1502. If autonomous control is enabled atoperation 1508, then the vehicle/UAV will operate without control fromthe driver. Otherwise, if the vehicle/UAV hardware processor determinesthat remote control assistance is desired, the vehicle/UAV hardwareprocessor will encode a message 1510 for transmission to the remotecontrol center 1502 request remote control assistance. In the caseremote control assistance is desired, at operation 1512, the remotecontrol center 1502 will take over control of the vehicle and transmit asignal 1514 imposing remote control of the vehicle/UAV 1500.

FIG. 16 illustrates an example architecture 1600 for vehicle controlaccording to some aspects. A vehicle controller 1602 (which can includecomponents of system 500, e.g., hardware processor or controller 502),can receive inputs from sensors 1604 of the vehicle/UAV. Communicationcan be over a communication bus (e.g., a bus according to a standard ofthe SAE family of standards. At least some of sensor 1604 can includesensors 521 (FIG. 5). Other inputs can come from driver commands 1606.Other inputs can come from remote command inputs 1608. Inputs 1604, 1606and 1608 can conflict, and in such cases control command policies 1610should be applied to help the vehicle controller 1602 determine whichinput to consider and, accordingly which control command to apply. Thecommand control policies 1610 can be provided within the vehicle oradjusted or modified by a third party using a secured connection 1612 tosecure policy authorization server 1614. A control bus such as a controlbus according to a standard of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)family of standards can communicate between any of sensor inputs 1604,drive command inputs 1606 and remote command inputs 1608 and thehardware processor. In some examples, a vehicle/UAV can be disabled ifthe vehicle/UAV is detected to be under malicious control or is detectedto have been stolen.

In some aspects, a decision making hierarchy can be specified, such thata control having a higher hierarchy level takes priority over controlsat lower hierarchy levels. In some aspects, a highest hierarchy level isassigned to driver commands, while a medium hierarchy level is assignedto remote controlled driving (e.g., by the vehicle manufacturer). Alowest hierarchy level can be assigned to autonomous driving capabilityin the vehicle/UAV. Hierarchy levels can be reassigned upon detection ofcertain conditions. For example, if a vehicle theft is detected, thecontrol is taken away from the driver (e.g., driver commands can beassigned low or no hierarchy). In at least this use case, remotecontrolled driving may be assigned the highest hierarchy level, and amedium hierarchy level can be assigned to autonomous driving capabilityin the vehicle. If a defect is found in remote controlled drivingcapability, remote controlled driving may be reassigned to no or lowhierarchy. Likewise, if a defect is found in autonomous drivingcapability, then autonomous driving may be reassigned to no or lowhierarchy.

Any of the radio links described herein may operate according to any oneor more of the following radio communication technologies and/orstandards including but not limited to: a Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM) radio communication technology, a General PacketRadio Service (GPRS) radio communication technology, an Enhanced DataRates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) radio communication technology, and/or aThird Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) radio communicationtechnology, for example Universal Mobile Telecommunications System(UMTS), Freedom of Multimedia Access (FOMA), 3GPP Long Term Evolution(LTE), 3GPP Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE Advanced), Code divisionmultiple access 2000 (CDMA2000), Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD),Mobitex, Third Generation (3G), Circuit Switched Data (CSD), High-SpeedCircuit-Switched Data (HSCSD), Universal Mobile TelecommunicationsSystem (Third Generation) (UMTS (3G)), Wideband Code Division MultipleAccess (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) (W-CDMA (UMTS)),High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), High-Speed Downlink Packet Access(HSDPA), High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), High Speed PacketAccess Plus (HSPA+), Universal Mobile TelecommunicationsSystem-Time-Division Duplex (UMTS-TDD), Time Division-Code DivisionMultiple Access (TD-CDMA), Time Division-Synchronous Code DivisionMultiple Access (TD-CDMA), 3rd Generation Partnership Project Release 8(Pre-4th Generation) (3GPP Rel. 8 (Pre-4G)), 3GPP Rel. 9 (3rd GenerationPartnership Project Release 9), 3GPP Rel. 10 (3rd Generation PartnershipProject Release 10), 3GPP Rel. 11 (3rd Generation Partnership ProjectRelease 11), 3GPP Rel. 12 (3rd Generation Partnership Project Release12), 3GPP Rel. 13 (3rd Generation Partnership Project Release 13), 3GPPRel. 14 (3rd Generation Partnership Project Release 14), 3GPP Rel. 15(3rd Generation Partnership Project Release 15), 3GPP Rel. 16 (3rdGeneration Partnership Project Release 16), 3GPP Rel. 17 (3rd GenerationPartnership Project Release 17) and subsequent Releases (such as Rel.18, Rel. 19, etc.), 3GPP 5G, 3GPP LTE Extra, LTE-Advanced Pro, LTELicensed-Assisted Access (LAA), MuLTEfire, UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access(UTRA), Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA), Long TermEvolution Advanced (4th Generation) (LTE Advanced (4G)), cdmaOne (2G),Code division multiple access 2000 (Third generation) (CDMA2000 (3G)),Evolution-Data Optimized or Evolution-Data Only (EV-DO), Advanced MobilePhone System (1st Generation) (AMPS (1G)), Total Access CommunicationSystem/Extended Total Access Communication System (TACS/ETACS), DigitalAMPS (2nd Generation) (D-AMPS (2G)), Push-to-talk (PTT), MobileTelephone System (MTS), Improved Mobile Telephone System (IMTS),Advanced Mobile Telephone System (AMTS), OLT (Norwegian for OffentligLandmobil Telefoni, Public Land Mobile Telephony), MTD (Swedishabbreviation for Mobiltelefonisystem D, or Mobile telephony system D),Public Automated Land Mobile (Autotel/PALM), ARP (Finnish forAutoradiopuhelin, “car radio phone”), NMT (Nordic Mobile Telephony),High capacity version of NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone) (Hicap),Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD), Mobitex, DataTAC, IntegratedDigital Enhanced Network (iDEN), Personal Digital Cellular (PDC),Circuit Switched Data (CSD), Personal Handy-phone System (PHS), WidebandIntegrated Digital Enhanced Network (WiDEN), iBurst, Unlicensed MobileAccess (UMA), also referred to as also referred to as 3GPP GenericAccess Network, or GAN standard), Zigbee, Bluetooth®, Wireless GigabitAlliance (WiGig) standard, mmWave standards in general (wireless systemsoperating at 10-300 GHz and above such as WiGig, IEEE 802.1 lad, IEEE802.1 lay, etc.), technologies operating above 300 GHz and THz bands,(3GPP/LTE based or IEEE 802.11p and other) Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) andVehicle-to-X (V2X) and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) andInfrastructure-to-Vehicle (I2V) communication technologies, 3GPPcellular V2X, DSRC (Dedicated Short Range Communications) communicationsystems such as Intelligent-Transport-Systems and others (typicallyoperating in 5850 MHz to 5925 MHz), the European ITS-G5 system (i.e. theEuropean flavor of IEEE 802.11p based DSRC, including ITS-G5A (i.e.,Operation of ITS-G5 in European ITS frequency bands dedicated to ITS forsafety related applications in the frequency range 5,875 GHz to 5,905GHz), ITS-G5B (i.e., Operation in European ITS frequency bands dedicatedto ITS non-safety applications in the frequency range 5,855 GHz to 5,875GHz), ITS-G5C (i.e., Operation of ITS applications in the frequencyrange 5,470 GHz to 5,725 GHz)), DSRC in Japan in the 700 MHz band(including 715 MHz to 725 MHz) etc.

Aspects described herein can be used in the context of any spectrummanagement scheme including dedicated licensed spectrum, unlicensedspectrum, (licensed) shared spectrum (such as LSA=Licensed Shared Accessin 2.3-2.4 GHz, 3.4-3.6 GHz, 3.6-3.8 GHz and further frequencies andSAS=Spectrum Access System/CBRS=Citizen Broadband Radio System in3.55-3.7 GHz and further frequencies). Applicable spectrum bands includeIMT (International Mobile Telecommunications) spectrum as well as othertypes of spectrum/bands, such as bands with national allocation.

In this document, the terms “a” or “an” are used, as is common in patentdocuments, to include one or more than one, independent of any otherinstances or usages of “at least one” or “one or more.” In thisdocument, the term “or” is used to refer to a nonexclusive or, such that“A or B” includes “A but not B,” “B but not A,” and “A and B,” unlessotherwise indicated. In the appended claims, the terms “including” and“in which” are used as the plain-English equivalents of the respectiveterms “comprising” and “wherein.” Also, in the following claims, theterms “including” and “comprising” are open-ended, that is, a system,device, article, or process that includes elements in addition to thoselisted after such a term in a claim are still deemed to fall within thescope of that claim. Moreover, in the following claims, the terms“first,” “second,” and “third,” etc. are used merely as labels, and arenot intended to impose numerical requirements on their objects.

The above description is intended to be illustrative, and notrestrictive. For example, the above-described examples (or one or moreaspects thereof) may be used in combination with each other. Otheraspects can be used, such as by one of ordinary skill in the art uponreviewing the above description. Also, in the above DetailedDescription, various features may be grouped together to streamline thedisclosure. This should not be interpreted as intending that anunclaimed disclosed feature is essential to any claim. Rather, inventivesubject matter may lie in less than all features of a particulardisclosed aspect. Thus, the following claims are hereby incorporatedinto the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as aseparate aspect. The scope of various aspects of the disclosure can bedetermined with reference to the appended claims, along with the fullscope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

The Abstract is provided to comply with 37 C.F.R. Section 1.72(b)requiring an abstract that will allow the reader to ascertain the natureand gist of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with theunderstanding that it will not be used to limit or interpret the scopeor meaning of the claims. The following claims are hereby incorporatedinto the detailed description, with each claim standing on its own as aseparate aspect.

EXAMPLES

Example 1 is a method for traffic control, the method comprising:detecting a traffic condition; determining whether to adjust a virtualtraffic sign responsive to detecting the traffic condition; andadjusting the virtual traffic sign based on the traffic condition.

In Example 2, the subject matter of Example 1 includes, whereinadjusting the virtual traffic sign comprises encoding a message fortransmission to a base station within a range of the virtual trafficsign, the message including at least one of a virtual traffic sign typeand a virtual traffic sign value.

In Example 3, the subject matter of Examples 1-2 includes, wherein themessage includes a plurality of virtual traffic sign valuescorresponding to at least one virtual traffic sign type, and whereinadjusting the virtual traffic sign further comprises adjusting aprobabilistic distribution of virtual traffic sign values based on achange in the traffic condition.

In Example 4, the subject matter of Examples 1-3 includes, wherein themessage further includes a percent likelihood that a virtual trafficsign value will apply to a vehicle being controlled according to themethod.

In Example 5, the subject matter of Examples 1-4 includes, wherein themessage further includes a location of the virtual traffic sign.

In Example 6, the subject matter of Example 5 includes, wherein thelocation is a three-dimensional (3D) location.

Example 7 is an apparatus for a vehicle, the apparatus comprising: aradio transceiver to receive communications in a wireless communicationnetwork; and processing circuitry coupled to the radio transceiver andconfigured to decode a message indicating a state of a virtual trafficsign; and identify a traffic action to take based on the state of thevirtual traffic sign.

In Example 8, the subject matter of Example 7 includes, wherein thetraffic action includes a direction to change elevation.

In Example 9, the subject matter of Examples 7-8 includes, wherein themessage includes an indication of a plurality of traffic actions to takein response to the virtual traffic sign.

In Example 10, the subject matter of Examples 7-9 includes wherein themessage includes an indication of a probability that a traffic action ofthe plurality of traffic actions is to be taken by the apparatus.

In Example 11, the subject matter of Examples 7-10 includes wherein theapparatus is assigned a priority, and wherein the probability is basedon the priority.

In Example 12, the subject matter of Examples 7-11 includes wherein theapparatus is assigned an autonomy level and wherein the probability isbased on the autonomy level.

In Example 13, the subject matter of Examples 7-12 includes wherein thevehicle includes an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

In Example 14, an apparatus for a vehicle comprises a network interfacedevice configured to communicate over a wireless communication network;at least one sensor to sense parameters of operation of the vehicle; andprocessing circuitry coupled to the network interface device and to theat least one sensor, the processing circuitry configured to encode areport for transmission to a remote control center, the report includingmetrics on vehicle behavior based on inputs of the at least one sensor;receive control signaling responsive to the report; and provide acontrol command based on the control signaling.

In Example 15, the subject matter of Example 14 includes wherein thecontrol signaling includes a high-level command to control more than onefunction of the vehicle.

In Example 16, the subject matter of Examples 14-15 includes wherein thecontrol signaling includes a dedicated command to control one functionof the vehicle, and wherein the one function includes one of vehiclespeed and vehicle direction.

In Example 17, the subject matter of Examples 14-16 includes wherein thecontrol signaling is received over a PC5 sidelink connection.

In Example 18, the subject matter of Examples 14-17 includes wherein thecontrol signaling is received over one of a Bluetooth or Wi-Ficonnection.

In Example 19, an apparatus for a vehicle includes a communication busand a hardware processor coupled to the communication bus and configuredto receive control inputs over the communication bus from at least twoof a vehicle sensor, a driver control input, and a remote command input,and determine which control input to apply based on a control commandpolicy.

In Example 20, the subject matter of Example 19 includes wherein thecontrol command policy includes a decision making hierarchy that applieshigher level priority to one of the vehicle sensor, the driver controlinput, and the remote command input.

Example 21 is at least one machine-readable medium includinginstructions, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine toperform operations described with respect to Examples 1-20.

Example 22 is an apparatus comprising means for performing any of themethods of Examples 1-20.

The above description is intended to be illustrative, and notrestrictive. For example, the above-described examples (or one or moreaspects thereof) may be used in combination with others. Other aspectsmay be used, such as by one of ordinary skill in the art upon reviewingthe above description. The Abstract is to allow the reader to quicklyascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It is submitted withthe understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit thescope or meaning of the claims. Also, in the above Detailed Description,various features may be grouped together to streamline the disclosure.However, the claims may not set forth every feature disclosed herein asaspects may feature a subset of said features. Further, aspects mayinclude fewer features than those disclosed in a particular example.Thus, the following claims are hereby incorporated into the DetailedDescription, with a claim standing on its own as a separate aspect. Thescope of the aspects disclosed herein is to be determined with referenceto the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents towhich such claims are entitled.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for a vehicle, the apparatuscomprising: a radio transceiver to receive communications in avehicle-to-everything; (V2X) wireless communication network; andprocessing circuitry coupled to the radio transceiver and configured to:decode a message indicating a state of a plurality of states of avirtual traffic sign associated with a flying path in athree-dimensional space, wherein: the virtual traffic sign is associatedwith traffic control signaling received by the radio transceiver via theV2X wireless communication network; and the message further indicates atotal number of states of the plurality of states and a probability foreach particular state of the plurality of states that the particularstate will apply to the vehicle; and identify a traffic action to takebased on the state of the virtual traffic sign, the total number ofstates, and the probability for each particular state of the pluralityof states that the particular state will apply to the vehicle.
 2. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the traffic action includes a direction tochange elevation.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the trafficcontrol signaling includes an indication of a plurality of trafficactions to take in response to the virtual traffic sign.
 4. Theapparatus of claim 3, wherein the traffic control signaling includes anindication of a probability that a traffic action of the plurality oftraffic actions is to be taken by the vehicle.
 5. The apparatus of claim4, wherein the apparatus is assigned a priority, and wherein theprobability that the traffic action of the plurality of traffic actionsto be taken by the vehicle is based on the priority.
 6. The apparatus ofclaim 4, wherein the apparatus is assigned an autonomy level and whereinthe probability that the traffic action of the plurality of trafficactions to be taken by the vehicle is based on the autonomy level. 7.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the vehicle includes an unmannedaerial vehicle (UAV).